pwake

I've read these and am still a little confused. This is our 3rd time on Princess but haven't been with them for quite a few years. We booked Club Class Mini-Suites for the location of the suite and the dining. What I am confused is breakfast and lunch....do we get to eat in Sabatini's with club class dining? Thanks....we will be on the Grand Princess out of San Francisco on Dec 13th.

Hi joeyndoug: Only full suites get breakfast in Sabatini’s. However, you do get to have breakfast in the CC dining room, which has more options than the regular MDR.

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We were on Veendam in May for a 14 night Canada, New England, Bermuda trip. We were in cabin 026. Everything worked. She is an older, small ship and we had a great time. The crew were very nice and friendly. The MD meals were all very good. Overall, I’d be more than happy to sail on her again.

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Back in the day, before ships were air conditioned, when sailing between the UK and India, one would be Posh - port out, starboard home. These days, it doesn’t matter. Ships dock port side or starboard side. Islands go by on both sides. My preference is a suite at the stern.

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I do my reservations through a big box TA (and occasionally get lunch for $1.50). For me, the OBC is the benefit. In May, our OBC for a 14 night HAL cruise was $1280. Our next Princess 12 night we get prepaid grats plus $1160 OBC. (Our OBC doesn’t include our Carnival Corp shareholder benefit)

If I book through Princess, I’m leaving a lot of money on the table. Also, I’m not interested in upgrade offers, I don’t want to change cabins after I book.

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The Pacific Princess is our favorite ship. We have a Rome - Venice scheduled for November 2018 and Southampton - Barcelona for 2019.

We always travel in the same cabin (8064) and with CC dining, can have dinner at any time. Every so often, they turn the buffet into a Bistro with an Italian menu, table service and anytime dining.

There are never any crowds. Tender ports are easy and the ship is elegant and old fashioned in a nice way.

The lack of night life is not a problem for me. If we want to see a show, we’d rather go to New York.

Because of the small number of passengers, the service people all over the ship get to know you. It’s very nice.

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We’ve only sailed on Princess 4 times. We did the cruises between February 2017 and January 2018 - New Zealand (Emerald) British Isles (Caribbean) Tasmania (Diamond) and a full Panama Canal transit (Pacific). All in suites. Our only dining experience on Princess is in Club Class. I have no idea what traditional dining is like on Princess, but there is no way it can be better than Club Class. We found it quiet, attentive and an overall superior dining experience. We sat at the same 2 tops with the same servers on each cruise and by the 3rd night, they knew exactly what we liked. It’s the thing that has hooked us on Princess!

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Paris is a 5 to 6 hour round trip from Le Harve. Omaha beach is close to 2 hours from Le Harve. That’s a lot of driving to go to both places. A loop trip would be close to 8 hours on the road.

I’d do the Normandy Beach excursion from the ship and then take the Eurostar from London to Paris after the cruise. There is much more to see in Paris than the Eiffel Tower!

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I live in Atlanta and frequently travel internationally. I sometimes even connect through here. ATL is actually the best big airport for connections. The train system connecting the 5 concourses is quick and convenient.

That said, I’d be nervous with a 1hr 55m connection, but would probably do it. I travel business class and have Global Entry. The big unknown is getting your checked bags. I’ve often waited 30 to 45 minutes for bags to show up and that’s with priority tags. Going through customs is now quick and easy. You recheck you bags right after customs and the security check on the arrivals level is typically 10 to 15 minutes.

So, good luck! Seeing as you have a later flight as a backup if things go sideways, take the quicker connecting flight.

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I’m on the Veendam as I type this. We started in Montreal in May 5th. The pool roof was closed the whole time - it was very cold all the way to Boston but at the pool, it was nice. Yesterday, the sea day to Bermuda was cold and foggy.

This morning, Monday the 14th, the roof was opened as we entered the harbor at Hamilton. The weather here is lovely!

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I find it best to bring $2 bills

You must be from Charlottesville VA. They love those Jefferson notes there.

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Just got on the Veendam today (May 5th) in Montreal. Everything is in good working order and no odd smells on any part of the ship I’ve been to.

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We’uns loves them grits, y’all.

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In the tropics, when it rains it’s still hot. If you’re wearing rain gear, you’ll sweat so much you’ll be soaking wet from perspiration and wishing you never put it on. I grew up in the tropics and wondered why people wore raincoats at all. I travel with a compact umbrella. Shirt, shorts and flip flops and you’re good to go rain or shine.

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Is your allergy to sulfonamide antibiotics? If this is the case, no need to worry. If you are allergic to elemental sulphur (sulfur) then it’s best to avoid Rotorua. Most people with sulfur allergies are allergic to the antibiotics, not the element.

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Yes, visas are required! But you get them on arrival and they are free.

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I was in Qatar last Friday. Qatar, UAE and Bahrain don’t require visas in advance. All 3 countries allow US citizens with passports with at least 6 months validity, fee free entry for up to 30 days. I don’t know what MSC is telling you, but it’s pretty easy to find this info on the various countries websites. In general, I wouldn’t trust any cruise line’s customer service to tell me the entry requirements for any county. After all, in the contract of carriage, visas are the responsibility of the passenger. They can give you wrong info with no consequences for the cruise line.

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We’ve done several cruises with butlers and to be honest, we never figured out what to do with them. Perhaps we are just too self reliant.

We’ve been on 4 Princess cruises in suites and haven’t missed having a butler. One less person knocking on my door is fine with me.

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I travel a lot. I’m in Oman at the moment. In the last few months I’ve flown to China, Australia, Hawaii, Oman and several US internal trips. I’ve been using Travelpro for several years. I have a Maxlite 4 series 22” spinner carryon and a 25” spinner Pullman. They are light and very durable. I’ve lost count of the number of times they’ve been across the Pacific.

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My wife and I were on the Emerald Princess in February, 2017 when a crew member was tragically killed just as we were preparing to leave Port Chalmers. We were delayed for 24 hours while the authorities investigated the cause of the accident.

We missed Milford Sound. Under the circumstances, nobody onboard cared. Princess gave each passenger $200 in “compensation”. We donated ours to the crew member’s family in the Philippines.

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It’s good to see the Pacific Princess in Sydney. We were on the 1st segment of her world cruise through the Panama Canal in January. She is a super nice ship to cruise on. We will be back on her in November in the Mediterranean.

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I have been traveling to China 4 or 5 times a year for the last 20 years. It took several years before they would give me a 2 year, multi-entry visa. The advent of the 10 year, multi-entry visa a couple of years ago was a huge relief for me. It’s in my old passport and valid until 2024.

I have used it many time to enter China through many different cities(including out of the way places like Nanning in Guangxi Provence) and can stay for up to 60 days.

If you have the same visa, you can enter and leave from any port. But you do need to have your old and current passport with you and don’t over stay your 60 days.

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Cruise ship sodas and beers are still cheaper than at a baseball park. At Suntrust Park (home of the Braves) a beer is $7 to $10 and soda $5.50 to $7.

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Regarding Peking/Beijing, the pronunciation didn’t change, the language changed. Peking is Northern Capital in Guangzhouhua (Cantonese), the language of south China. Beijing is Northern Capital in Putonghua (Mandarin), the language of north central China and now the official language of China. Just a fun fact to impress your friends.

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I’m an Aussie who has lived in the US for more than 40 years. When I’m in Australia or New Zealand, I will occasionally tip if the service is really good. Most of the time I don’t feel compelled to tip.

I’m pretty sure that in New Zealand, the tour guides would tip the customers (if they didn’t ask silly questions!)

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I’m on the Pacific Princess right now. We left Port Everglades on January 5th at the tail end of that Bomb Cyclone going up the east coast. It was very rough sea until we went around Cuba. I don’t think it was any bumpier on the Pacific Princess than on the Emerald Princess crossing the Tasman Sea last February. I love this small ship, but I’m also comfortable with motion and actually sleep better if it’s rocking a bit. Our cabin (8064) is on the stern and sees more movement than cabins that are more centrally located.

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